They say a man should never cry nor should a man ever be afraid. I must admit that on May 13, 2002, I cried and was afraid. This is a day that I actually try to forget, but it keeps managing to play itself over and over in my mind. It’s hard for me to forget taking a person’s life. Some people say that eventually you’ll forget it, but I haven’t.
I keep running the events of that day through my mind to see if I could have done anything different. Each time, I come up with the same thing, I did the right thing. I did the only thing that could be done in that situation.
It was around seven forty-five at night it was warm as hell outside. I was getting ready to get off of work. I wanted to stop by the store, on my way home, and pick up a six pack of beer. I was standing at the time clock, holding my timecard, waiting for the minutes to pass so that I could clock-out right on time. After clocking out, I would follow my usual routine which was to go downstairs to change my clothes. That’s when the events of the evening began to unfold.
While I was waiting by the time clock, one of my buddies, Joey Edwards, walked into the room. I told him my plans to stop off at the store and get some beers before I went home. I asked him if he wanted to roll. He said "yeah", because he knows I have the ultimate bachelor pad and he wanted to chill out without having to worry about hearing any mouth from a female.
I’m newly divorced; I have a refrigerator full of out-dated food, clothes thrown around everywhere, a collection of female panties, and all the beer you could drink. Hey, I was living the life!
So Joey and I clocked out and both went downstairs to change our clothes. Before we left work, I said to Joey, “Let’s leave our cars here and walk down the block to get the beers. Then we can come back for our cars and you can follow me to my house. That way we can save on gas, because gas prices are so high right now due to that fucking Iraqi war. Damn, this war shit is really fucking everything up here on America’s home front!”
“Yeah, I agree man. I’m trying my damnedest to save money any way I can and gas is at the top of my list too! This shit is ridiculous!” exclaimed Joey.
Let me tell you the kind of work I do for a living. I am a driver for an armored truck company. That is a very dangerous job within itself; which is why it pays so well. Now, normally I leave my gun at work, but tonight was different. Something told me to take it with me because we were getting ready to walk on the streets of downtown Durham, North Carolina. I don’t know which is more dangerous, driving an armored truck or walking on the streets of Durham. Either way, my choice to walk the streets of Durham was just placing myself at a higher risk for trouble to occur. I chose to take that risk in the name of saving a few dollars on gas.
That day was a picture perfect day for trouble to brew in Durham. The sky was beautiful. There weren’t any clouds in sight. It was close to 8 p.m. and the sun was still shining. It didn’t look as if the night were coming any time soon. It was about seventy-eight degrees. Man, it was a gorgeous day. We all know that those are the type of days when every one is out in the streets doing whatever comes to their mind. You had some people playing with water guns, the kids were throwing water balloons at each other and everyone was having a grand ole time.
After changing our clothes, Joey and I left the locker room and went back up the stairs to exit the building. We were officially off of work for the evening. Joey and I were the last two employees leaving. We were talking, laughing, and walking. Just having an all around grand ole’ time.
Out of the blue, we heard what sounded like an argument between a man and a woman. I’m assuming they were a couple. We could see them from a distance but were unable to tell what the argument was about. There were a lot of people hanging out on the streets around us. Every one acted as if it was perfectly normal for the couple to be arguing in the middle of the street. Airing out your personal problems in the street seems very stupid to me. Why would you want to let every one all up in your business? Not only is your business in the streets, but it’s free game for the gossipers. In a matter of minutes after your business hits the streets, the gossipers will have at least five different versions running around about your business.
